Checkly vs openstatus
Open-source uptime monitoring. Learn how openstatus compares to Checkly.
Looking for a Checkly alternative?
TL;DR: Openstatus is built for uptime monitoring with built-in status pages. Checkly is built for browser-based synthetic monitoring with Playwright. If you need to know when your API is down, choose openstatus. If you need to test complex user flows, choose Checkly.
If your main need is uptime monitoring with a public status page rather than browser-based synthetic tests, openstatus is the better fit. It monitors from 28 regions with parallel scheduling, is fully open-source, and includes status pages with every plan — no Playwright scripts needed to know if your API is down.
Openstatus and Checkly take different approaches to monitoring. Openstatus focuses on uptime monitoring — checking whether your endpoints are reachable and performant from 28 global regions — and pairs this with status pages for incident communication. Checkly focuses on synthetic monitoring using Playwright and Puppeteer to run full browser-based end-to-end checks.
If your primary need is knowing when your API or website goes down and communicating that to users, openstatus is the more direct fit. If you need to verify complex user flows (login, checkout, search) are working correctly, Checkly's browser testing approach is more powerful.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | openstatus | Checkly |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-region | 28 regions | ~19 regions |
| Status Page | Yes (built-in) | No |
| Open-source | Yes | No |
| Monitoring as code | Yes (YAML + CLI) | Yes (JavaScript) |
| Browser checks (Playwright) | No | Yes |
| OpenTelemetry exporter | Yes | Yes |
| GitHub Action | Yes | Yes |
| Team members | Unlimited | Restricted |
| Self-hostable | Yes | No |
Pricing Comparison
| openstatus | Checkly | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 1 monitor, 6 regions | 5 browser checks |
| Starter/paid | $30/mo | Usage-based (from ~$30/mo) |
| Status page | Included | Not available |
| Team members | Unlimited on paid plans | Per-seat pricing |
| Browser checks | Not available | Core feature |
Checkly's pricing is usage-based and scales with the number and frequency of browser checks. Openstatus offers flat, predictable pricing — what you see is what you pay.
When to Choose openstatus
- You need uptime monitoring with a status page for incident communication
- You want 28 regions with parallel scheduling
- You prefer open-source software or need to self-host
- You want HTTP/TCP/DNS monitoring with assertions and thresholds
- You need predictable, low-cost pricing for a small team
When to Choose Checkly
- You need browser-based synthetic monitoring with Playwright
- You want to monitor complex user flows (checkout, authentication, search)
- You already use JavaScript-based monitoring-as-code workflows
Switching from Checkly to openstatus
If your Checkly usage is primarily HTTP API checks (not browser-based Playwright tests), the switch is simple:
- Sign up for a free openstatus account
- Migrate your API checks — recreate HTTP monitors in the dashboard or define them via YAML and the openstatus CLI
- Set up your status page — something Checkly doesn't offer natively
- Configure alerts — openstatus supports Slack, Discord, PagerDuty, OpsGenie, and more
If you rely heavily on Playwright browser checks, openstatus is not a direct replacement for that capability. Consider using openstatus for uptime monitoring and status pages alongside a browser testing tool.
Start monitoring from 28 regions today